1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved wallet size card book, which is constructed to hold a card having dimensions of a conventional credit card and fit within the credit card compartment of a wallet or similar type cardholder. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wallet size card book in which an L-shaped adhesive strip is applied on a substrate in a prescribed pattern.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various booklets or folders having card holder pockets and a place to record information or transactions are currently in use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,405 (Daneshvar) discloses a booklet for collecting and presenting personal medical information. Although the booklets include pockets formed in the covers of the booklets, the disclosure provides that the pockets may be used to hold additional papers containing medical information. The suggested size of the booklet is approximately 4".times.61/2", and by size alone, would not conveniently fit into the user's wallet. Further, there is no indicated use of the pockets for holding identification and credit cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,729 (Jackson) discloses a patient medical information and education container which may be wallet size. Although a pocket is provided which serves to hold a plurality of cards or the like, the user must open a plurality of panels of the container to retrieve a card from the pocket.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,767,756 (Niles) discloses a foldable unit plastic card holder designed to hold a number of cards. However, the card holder does not include any pages on which to record transactions or maintain record-keeping.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,027 (Price) discloses a ticket and money holder provided with openings with arcuate lower edges through which tickets and the like may be inserted into and removed from the holder. The holder includes an outer sheet which is stitched to a filler.
Standard size card books are also available, for example, savings and passbooks. However, these card books are too cumbersome in size to fit within the compartments of a wallet. Moreover, attempts to produce wallet size card books have been unsuccessful because the available marginal width is not sufficient to obtain a strong glue bond with previously used adhesives.
To overcome the disadvantages presented by the prior art, the inventors of the present invention initially developed a wallet size card book, which is constructed to fit within a wallet, yet is strong enough to survive normal usage (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,401 to Exline et al. and co-pending continuation-in-part U.S. application Ser. No. 08/783,813, filed Jan. 16, 1997, the disclosures of each being hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties). U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,401 discloses a smaller size card book having dimensions of approximately 21/2 inches by 31/2 inches. The wallet size card book includes: (a) a cover having a fold which divides the cover into a front cover panel and a rear cover panel; (b) a plurality of leaves attached at the fold, the leaves forming pages; (c) a L-shaped adhesive strip extended along two edges of the inner surface of the cover; and (d) a pocket formed by a first leaf sealed to the inner surface of the cover and cut shorter and narrower than the cover, a second leaf sealed along two adjacent edges to the L-shaped adhesive strip on the cover with a third edge secured to the fold by stitching, gluing or stapling, and a fourth edge remaining open for receiving a credit or information card. The smaller size coupled with the same standard size for credit cards requires a substantially narrower adhesive or glue strip along the two adjacent sides in the card book having the following properties: 1) sufficient bond strength; 2) fast cure to porous substrates under ambient conditions; and 3) sufficient bond flexibility.
U.S. application Ser. No. 08/783,813 to Exline et al. discloses an adhesive strip that is used to seal the leaves of the wallet size card books described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,401. The adhesive strip comprises an adhesive selected from the group consisting of latexes of polyvinyl ethylene, polyvinyl acetate, acrylics and any copolymer thereof, natural rubber latex, natural rubber solvent-based, protein glue, carbohydrate polymer, aerobic adhesives, cyanoacrylates, silicones, and epoxy resins. The preferred adhesive is a polyvinyl acetate copolymer latex with a glass transition temperature (Tg) approximately near or below room temperature. The use of a resin emulsion adhesive, preferably a polyvinyl acetate copolymer emulsion, makes it possible to create a properly formed pocket for holding and protecting the card.
In producing the wallet size card book disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,401, at least one card book is placed in an open position where the plurality of leaves are attached to the fold of the cover. The first or fly leaf is cut shorter and narrower than the cover so that when the resin emulsion adhesive is applied to the entire inner surface of the cover, the first leaf completely adheres to the cover and leaves an L-shaped adhesive strip exposed along the marginal edges of the inner surface of the cover. As a result, a second leaf adheres to the L-shaped adhesive strip that remains exposed on the inner surface of the cover, thereby forming a pocket with a third edge being attached at the fold and a fourth edge remaining open for receiving a wallet size card book. During the process of constructing the card book, anywhere from approximately 12-18 books may be placed between two dies immediately after the resin emulsion is applied. The die includes a lower strip and an upper narrow strip. A plurality of openings exists between the upper and lower strips. Between adjacent openings are adjoining strips.
The books and dies are placed in an air-powered vise, and thereafter squeezed together in order to set the adhesive. The vise is squeezed under approximately 2800 lbs/in.sup.2 of pressure for a sufficient amount of time in which to properly seal the adhesive to the cover of the card book. In a preferred embodiment, the vise may be squeezed between about 30 seconds and about one minute. The dies function by applying pressure around the outer edges of the leaves, and help to seal the adhesive on the cover of the card book. As a result, a pocket is created which is formed by sealing the first leaf and part of the second leaf to the inner surface of the cover using the L-shaped adhesive strip.
While the overall design of the wallet size card book in the '401 patent has been successful commercially, there still remains a need for an improved wallet size card book which can be produced more efficiently to meet the ever increasing demands for the card book.